The Factory
by Danja
Summary: Set before 'Premiere' follow Dinah into a government-run Chamber of Horrors. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Author: Danja

Disclaimer: Birds of Prey, it's characters and concepts are the property of Warner Brothers, Tollin-Robbins Productions & DC Comics.

Author Comments: Dinah uttered something (it was either in "Slick" or the pilot … I can't remember which ep :( ) about her foster parents threatening to send her "to a place that would make her powers stronger". That got me thinking: what if they actually did it … and Dinah lied about it? It wouldn't be the first time our Dinah has tried to bury a piece of her past. ;)

This is my first BOP fanfic … bear with me. ;)

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The Factory

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Chapter One

* * *

It was 2 a.m.

Helena was jolted awake by the sound of Dinah screaming bloody murder from her quarters next door:

"NOOOO! PLEASE! STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! YOU'RE HURTING ME! NO! STOP! NO!"

_What the…? _thought Helena as she scrambled to her feet and ran next door to Dinah's room. She banged frantically on the door.

"Dinah … Dinah! You OK?"

Dinah kept screaming from inside as Helena turned the doorknob and opened the door. _Unlocked_, Helena thought. _Thank God._

Helena ran inside and turned on the light. Dinah was screaming in her sleep.

"NO! STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! MY HEAD IS KILLING ME!"

Helena ran over to Dinah, grabbed her shoulder, and shook her awake.

"Dinah … Dinah! Dinah, wake up!"

Dinah's eyes suddenly popped open.

"What happened?" Dinah asked drowsily.

"You were screaming in your sleep," Helena replied. "I could hear it in _my_ room!"

"Oh … God", said Dinah, her breathing labored.

"What's the matter? You OK, kid?"

Dinah shook her head and looked up at Helena. Helena was touching one of her transceiver earrings.

_Oh, God, _Dinah thought. _I woke Barbara too._

"Dinah was having a nightmare", Helena replied to her earring.

"I wish it _was_ just a nightmare", said Dinah softly, her voice quavering. "It was more like … a flashback."

"Correction … flashback", said Helena into her earring.

"I'm sorry I woke everyone", Dinah apologized. Tears were streaming down her face.

Helena touched her earring again. "OK. Will do", she said into her earring. She then made a beckoning gesture to Dinah. "C'mon", she said softly. "Barbara wants to see you."


	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

* * *

Barbara's quarters were situated right across the hall from Helena's and Dinah's; it went without saying that she too heard the commotion coming from Dinah's room.

Barbara – wearing black sweat pants and a dark blue nightshirt -- was sitting on the edge of the left side of her bed, her hands resting upon her knees. A small wooden desk sat just to the left of the bed; underneath the desk sat a small armless office chair with rollers on the legs.

"Lights!" Barbara called out to the room. An unseen voice-activated switch turned on the lights in the room.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in", said Barbara.

The door opened. A trembling Dinah – wearing a red nightshirt – entered first; Helena – wearing a black silk nightgown – followed right behind her.

"You wished to see me?" said Dinah softly.

Barbara grabbed the chair from underneath the desk and set it in front of herself.

"Sit down", she said as she gestured towards the chair. Dinah complied. Helena leaned a shoulder against the wall near the door. A clock hung on the wall directly behind Dinah.

"Helena told me you were having flashbacks", Barbara began. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry I woke you", said Dinah with tears in her eyes.

"What happened to you?"

"It's nothing", said Dinah, minimizing the situation.

Barbara gently caressed Dinah's cheek and wiped a tear away. "Whatever it was, it must've been traumatic", she said. "It's clearly something."

"You'll think I'm crazy."

"Try me."

Dinah sighed. "Do you remember when I told you that my parents … my foster parents…"

_The ones who abused you, _thought Barbara.

"… Do you remember my telling you that they threatened to send me to a place that would make my powers stronger?"

"Yes."

"The truth is … they did it. Once."

"When did this happen?"

"About three years ago."

_When you were thirteen, _Barbara thought as she made a quick mental calculation. "Tell me about it", she said.

"I'm sorry I woke you", Dinah apologized again, her voice quavering.

"Just so you know, I'm a _very_ light sleeper... almost _any_ sound will be enough to awaken me," said Barbara. "Ten years of street duty will do that to you", she said with a sigh.

"It wasn't uncommon for Batman to call me out to jobs at 2, 3 in the morning," Barbara continued. "You never knew when the phone was going to ring, so to speak."

"Guess old habits are hard to break", said Dinah with a shy smile.

"Now…" said Barbara as she changed the subject. "Back to my original question … what happened?"

"My … foster parents … put me in this government program … to make my powers stronger."

"If I may play Devil's Advocate for a moment, what makes you so sure that it was your parents who placed you in the program?"

"They clearly knew it existed. If I misbehaved ... which seemed to be all the time ... they would threaten to send me there."

"I dunno know how my parents found out about the program," Dinah continued. "Maybe they were recruited, maybe they saw an ad somewhere … I dunno."

"What makes you think it was a government program?"

"To tell you the truth, I dunno who was behind it or how they found me. I _think _it was a government program, I'm not sure. They had government connections, that's for sure."

"How?"

"I was in school. I was called down to the Principal's office one day. I saw these big men wearing business suits – one wore a blue suit, the other had a gray suit-- and ID tags on their pockets. They said they were FBI agents. Blue Suit put my hands behind my back, handcuffed me, and he and Gray Suit led me away."

"They took you away … just like that?"

Dinah closed her eyes, nodded, and opened them again. "Just like that", she said softly.

Barbara raised an eyebrow. "And the school let them get away with it … Didn't they check their credentials?"

"It was a small town", said Dinah with a sigh. "I guess it never occurred to anyone to question Uncle Sam." She then cast her eyes downward. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"No, no, no … go on", said Barbara. "If anything, I'm having a problem believing _them_."

"Them?"

"The school."

"Oh. Anyway", Dinah continued. "They took me out to their car, put me in the back seat, and put something like a black pillowcase over my head. After that, we took off. I kept asking them where we were going but … they wouldn't tell me."

_I'll bet dollars-to-donuts these two were fakes, _Barbara thought. _Fake FBI, at least. Pluck a 13-year-old kid out of school without an arrest warrant? Without even so much as charging her with a crime? I guess they figured the badges – God only knows where they got them -- would be intimidation enough._

Barbara shuddered. _Turns out they guessed correctly, _she thought.

The all-but-forgotten Helena crossed her arms and kept her position by the door, listening.

"We drove for a long time", Dinah continued. "We finally stopped. They opened the back door and dragged me out of the car. I could feel their hands under my armpits. When they finally took the pillowcase and handcuffs off, I was in this strange room; it had dark gray walls, fluorescent ceiling lights, and white linoleum tiles on the floor. There was also an easel, an IV setup, something that looked like an EKG machine -- it had this long strip of paper coming out of the top of it -- and a ... dentist's chair … for lack of a better term to describe it; it had straps coming out of the arm and leg rests. They put me in the chair and strapped my arms and legs down. Some guy in an orange jumpsuit came in and jammed an IV needle into my wrist. Another guy in an orange jumpsuit came in and started fiddling with the EKG machine … only it wasn't _REALLY_ an EKG machine. I'm guessing that it was some kind of brain wave monitor; he began putting these electrodes on my forehead. After that, everyone left."

_And to think they did this to a 13-year-old girl, _Barbara thought. "Dinah, do you remember seeing any writing or patches on the man's jumpsuit? Something that would indicate the organization that he … and I presume, the others in the room as well … worked for?" she said.

Dinah shook her head. "No. They were all wearing ID badges, though … but they were standing several feet away from me; the type on them was too small for me to read at that distance."

Barbara pressed on. "What happened next?"

"As time went on, I began getting these terrible headaches. The closest thing I can compare it to is a migraine. A migraine from hell. I felt like my head was going to explode any minute!"

"That would explain the 'My head is killing me' line", interjected Helena.

"Anyway", said Dinah. "A couple more men in orange jumpsuits came into the room. There was this one skinny guy who wore glasses, had brown curly hair, and carried a clipboard – so I called him 'Clipboard'. It was then that I finally worked up the nerve to ask these people where I was."

"And their response…?"

"Clipboard told me that I was in some place called The Factory. No city, no state … just 'The Factory'" said Dinah, framing the words "The Factory" with her index and middle fingers.

"There was this other guy … young, beefy, blonde hair – I called him 'Crew-cut' because of his hair. He put a large pad on the easel. He flipped open the pad and showed me a series of numbers."

"What kind of numbers?"

"I think they were map coordinates or something … 43 north or something. They told me to describe what I saw at those coordinates."

"You're kidding," said Helena. Dinah shook her head – no.

"It sounds to me as if they were trying to conduct an experiment in remote viewing", said Barbara.

"You've lost me", said Helena to Barbara. "What's 'remote viewing'?"

"Essentially, it's just what Dinah's described … you give someone a set of map coordinates and then they tell you what they're seeing at that spot ... a tree, a building, a military base, an oil refinery, what have you. Uncle Sam has been trying to recruit psychics as spies since the 70's. Frankly", said Barbara as she turned her attention back to Dinah. "You're the youngest one I've ever seen."

"I couldn't do it", said Dinah. "I was in so much pain … my head was pounding, I couldn't focus. I kept telling _THEM_ that ... kept telling them … they were hurting me." Tears began forming in her eyes. Dinah pinched the root of her nose. Helena walked over and put a comforting hand on Dinah's shoulder.

"What did they do to you when you said you were in pain?" said Barbara.

Dinah winced. "Crew-cut slapped me across the face", she said. "Called me all sorts of horrible names. It was then that my telepathy kicked in."

"Really?"

"I saw this image of a submarine base in my mind; it was like something out of a movie -- 5 … 6 submarines docked in port. Something inside me made me blurt out 'a sub base'."

"And?"

"Crew-cut seemed pleased. He walked back over to the easel and showed me a whole new set of numbers on the pad."

"What happened next?"

"At this point, I was fading in-and-out. The pain in my head was becoming unbearable. My vision began getting blurry. I could barely see what was in front my face … much less what was on the pad. I could just barely make out Crew-cut standing over me…" Dinah struggled with the words. Tears were forming in her eyes. "…And yelling 'Looks like the bitch needs a jump-start'!"

"Did he slap you again?"

Dinah nodded tearfully.

"What happened next?"

"Nothing … I passed out."


	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter Three

* * *

Barbara struggled to put the pieces of Dinah's story together. _This just reeks of Federal involvement, _she thought. _But how … and where? Is it all Federal … or a combination public-private partnership?_ _I could've sworn Uncle Sam was laughed out of the psychic-hunting business years ago … after the whole embarrassing story was made public. _

_There's no doubt in my mind that something happened to her; it's all just too detailed – and too consistent with what I know about Uncle Sam's past work in this area – not to be true. Furthermore, it's traumatized her to the point where she's now having flashbacks._

She mused about the name of the program. _"The Factory" … truly a name only a bureaucrat could love._

She turned her attention back to Dinah. "What happened after you came to?" she asked.

"I woke up in another room just like the first one: gray walls, white linoleum tile floor, fluorescent-ceiling lights. Only this one had a yellow foam rubber mattress on the floor with a white sheet lying on top of it. I guess I was supposed to sleep there; I don't know how long I was out -- I never saw a clock once the whole time I was there."

"Did you sleep?"

Dinah shook her head. "I couldn't … there was this strange hissing noise being piped through the intercom system in the ceiling. It kept me awake."

"How was your head?"

"Here's the strange part … my headaches vanished once I was off the IV."

"Presently, your frontal lobe activity accounts for over 50 percent of your total brain activity", said Barbara. "These people may have been using a drug -- delivered via IV -- to increase those activity levels. Either your body was physiologically unable to withstand that level of frontal lobe activity … or those headaches were a side-effect of the drug itself."

"Waddya know", said Helena with a laugh. "Kid's a former lab rat!"

"Helena, please", said Barbara. She then turned her attention back to Dinah. "Please continue."

"After a long while, Crew-cut and Clipboard came into the room where I was sleeping. An older guy with gray hair who was wearing a green camouflage uniform came in with them. I think he was in the Army; he was wearing a patch that said 'U.S. Army' on his chest. I think he was a captain -- he had two black bars on his collar. That's what I called him … The Captain."

_Definite military involvement here, _Barbara thought. _Army equals Pentagon equals Government. _"Captain's insignia, yeah. Go on."

"Anyway, he told me to get up. I did … and he screamed the word -- I think it was something like 'kitsami' -- at me. He kept screaming it at me over and over and over again … Kitsami! Kitsami! Kitsami! I then asked him what the word meant."

"And?"

"He got in Clipboard's face." Tears began forming in Dinah's eyes.

"Did he say anything to Clipboard?"

Dinah's face was red now. "He told him … no, _screamed_ at him 'You told me that this kid would be HYPNOTIZED!'"

_They do a LOT of screaming in this outfit, _Barbara noted silently to herself. "Hypnotized? How?"

"I don't know how!" shouted Dinah, now terrified. "I don't remember being hypnotized! That's what scares me!" Her hands began to tremble in fear.

Barbara put a comforting hand on Dinah's shoulder. "What scares you?"

"For all I know, I could've been programmed not to remember!" shouted Dinah, tears flowing now. "I'm afraid someone's going to turn me into a zombie just by saying the magic word!"

"It won't happen."

"How do you know?" said Dinah, the terror now rising in her voice.

"I know because I've studied it", said Barbara reassuringly. "I've studied it long enough to know that's not how it works.

"Hypnosis works because _you want it to work_," Barbara continued. "Hypnosis is basically the power of suggestion. Common sense dictates that you cannot accept and act upon a suggestion if you aren't even aware that it exists!"

"I still don't understand how they did it", said Dinah, calmer now, her face slowly returning to its normal color.

Barbara grasped her chin, lost in thought. _That hissing sound… _"Dinah, you mentioned hearing a hissing sound … a sound that kept you awake. Correct?"

Dinah nodded.

"I'm thinking that may have been the government's ham-fisted attempt at subliminal suggestion."

"Oh, my God", said Dinah, clutching her chest in panic. "What have they put into me?"

"They didn't 'put anything' into you. They _couldn't _'put anything' into you … for the reason I mentioned earlier. As far as you were concerned, their 'suggestions' were nothing more than an annoying hissing sound that was keeping you awake. To put it bluntly, subliminal suggestion does not work. They might as well have tried to hypnotize you in Klingon."

Dinah smiled and tried to stifle a laugh as she grasped the absurdity Barbara had just presented to her. For now, the tension had been broken.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you", said Dinah softly. "I should've known better."

"Don't apologize", Barbara replied. "You were thirteen … you weren't expected to know. In fact, most people don't. That's what they were counting on. You've been carrying that inside you for three years?"

Dinah nodded solemnly.

"This 'kitsami' ", said Barbara. "It sounds as if it was intended to cue a post-hypnotic response from you. Some nonsense word that is unlikely to be used in regular conversation."

"What need would The Factory have to get inside her head?" asked Helena.

"Any number of reasons, I suppose", Barbara replied. "Increased control over Dinah … a means of enhancing her performance as a remote viewer … who knows? But I digress…" she said as she changed the subject. She turned her attention back to Dinah. "Please continue."

"For some reason, something inside of me chose that moment to tell them that I was a telepath."

"They didn't know? You mean they didn't ask you about any of your powers beforehand?"

Dinah shook her head. "They never bothered to ask," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"What did you tell them?"

"The truth … I told them that I could read someone's mind just by touching them. I told them that Crew-cut kept slapping my face."

"What happened after that?"

"The Captain hit the ceiling. He really lit into Clipboard and Crew-cut. He told them, 'You … f-word … morons! You mean to tell me you didn't bother to screen her for other powers before you strapped her in?' " Dinah blushed as she related this; she normally didn't use that type of language.

"And what did _they_ say?"

"Clipboard told him that they thought that I had been screened beforehand."

"What happened after that?"

"First, The Captain asked me if there was anything else that they should know about. I said no. Then The Captain ordered me back to the … testing room … for more experiments. After that, things went by pretty quickly. They did the same thing as before: they connected me to the machine, stuck the IV into me, gave me a set of map coordinates, and told me to describe what I saw at each of these coordinates. I failed this series of tests. Once they found out that I was no remote viewer, they put the black pillowcase over my head, handcuffed me, and drove me home to the Redmonds."

"I'm guessing that they were disappointed in you."

"Yeah", said Dinah sorrowfully with her eyes downcast. "Oh, and one other thing…" said Dinah, her face suddenly brightening. "Just before I was sent me off for testing for the second time, I remember The Captain telling Crew-cut, 'And for the love of God, _DON'T TOUCH HER!_' " Dinah's face broke out in a grin as she related The Captain's final words to Crew-cut.

Barbara looked at the clock on the wall that was directly behind Dinah. "4 a.m., Sunday morning", she said with a sigh. "Let's call it a night and get some sleep."

"Guys," said Dinah. "Thank you … both of you", she said, looking at Barbara and Helena. "Thank you for listening … and believing me."

"I was scared to death for a while there", said Helena.

"The mighty Huntress … afraid?" said Dinah with a sly grin.

"Sue me … I'm only human."

"Don't you mean _meta-human_?"

"Funny…"

"Guys, I hate to break this up," said Barbara. "But we really should be getting back to bed."

"This is the first time that I've ever told this story to another living soul", said Dinah.

"There's something I don't understand", said Barbara. "Why didn't you tell us this before? We were led to believe that your being sent to the center was nothing more than a threat made by The Redmonds to keep you under their thumb … a bogeyman."

"I didn't want to worry you. I didn't want you to think that I was damaged goods. I figured that if I … put some distance between The Factory and me … the flashbacks would go away. That's one of the reasons I came to New Gotham City."

Barbara put a hand on Dinah's shoulder. "It's in the past", she murmured. "They can't hurt you here. They can't hurt you anymore."

Dinah rose to leave. "Thank you", she said. "That's a three-year-old load off my chest." She then turned to leave.

"Good-night, you two."

Helena and Dinah bade Barbara their goodnights as they walked out the door. As they left, Barbara once again called out "Lights!" to the room. As the room was thrust into darkness, Barbara pitched herself bodily onto the bed and went back to sleep.

THE END


End file.
